The Pokemon Are Wild
by Falara Hughes
Summary: It needs an authentic title, but oh well. This story was written by request.


**The Pokemon are Wild**

  


    A full moon and clear sky over Bulb and Bud Valley meant only one thing: the Hounds were on the hunt. The cries of the Bulbasaurs and Ivysaurs could be heard beyond the perimeter, coupled with the barking patterns of a Hound hunting party. Houndooms and Houndours darted through the tall brush in planned formations, herding the panicked young to isolated corners.  
    "Bulbaaaaaaa!"  
    "Heh-heh-hou! Yip! Yiyiyi-hou!"  
    The Venusaurs tried to keep up, but they were too large to maneuver fast enough. Some Hounds in the hunting party kept them at bay by spraying the valley with flames. By dawn, Bulb and Bud Valley had smouldered into a ruined atmosphere and the Saur herd that lived there were minus several young. Those that were left gathered near the small waterfall on the northern edge of the valley and reunited with their loved ones.  
    Wise Eyes, the eldest of the Venusaurs, rumbled as he stamped out the remaining embers of a burning bush. "All right, herd. Who are we missing?"  
    "My brother is gone," an Ivysaur called sadly.  
    "They took my babies," a Venusaur cried.  
    Blunt Maw, another of the herd's elders, stepped forward and muttered to Wise Eyes. "Rose has lost all of her Bulbs and Ivies for the third time. I don't think she'll ever want to mate again."  
    Wise Eyes grumbled at what he heard. "Curse that Ash Paw Pack! We of the Bulb and Bud Herd will not stand for this any longer!" He marched around as he spoke, glaring at their destroyed home. "Every full moon that there isn't a rain, they emerge from the darkness and kill off our young!" The valley shook as he stomped the ground angrily. "Why not the elders? Surely we have all lived long and plentiful lives!"  
    "Wise Eyes, bite your tongue," called Pine Blossom, another elder. "None of us deserves to be hunted no matter how long we've lived. No, we must do something to rid us of this threat that the Ash Paw Pack presents us."  
    "And what do you suggest," Wise Eyes called back to her. "We cannot fight them; it would mean suicide for our entire herd!"  
    "I suggest we find someone who can." Pine Blossom trudged towards the water as she spoke. "There is a swamp not far from here. Perhaps if we ventured there and requested the use of the Politoeds..."  
    Blunt Maw chuffed. "A swamp? Huh! Even if there was one nearby, it would be hard for one of _us_ to travel up the mountainside and through the thick forest beyond it."  
    "There _is_ one," Pine Blossom declared, then took a moment to drink from the pool at the base of the waterfall. "I have seen it with my own eyes. I wandered outward when I was but an Ivysaur." She inclined her head towards the west. "It is in that direction. There are creatures there of Water and Ground who would be more than willing to help us, I'm sure."  
    Wise Eyes stood thoughtfully swaying before he spoke again. "Well. I would much prefer it if myself or another Venusaur made the journey. But, seeing as how it cannot be so..." He looked around at the smaller members of his herd. "Who among you is brave enough to make such a journey? We know not the distance, nor the dangers involved. But someone must undertake it for the future of our herd!"  
    The Ivysaurs looked amongst each other with uneasy expressions. It was one thing to face danger once every fully moon, but to be constantly on your guard in the unsafe regions beyond their home?  
    "I'll do it!"  
    Wise Eyes looked to the Ivysaur who stepped forward. It was Grazer, the last of his family who hadn't been taken by Ash Paw Pack. "Are you certain you wish to do this," the elder asked. "Choose carefully. For once you start this journey you may not return until you have sought victory for us."  
    "I'm certain," Grazer nodded. "The Ash Paws took the last of my family this time around! I'll find someone to defend us. Or I'll take them on myself!"  
    "Don't be so eager for your own death, child," Pine Blossom said as she reached for him with a pair of vines. With his belly wrapped in her plant grasp she moved towards the western edge of the valley. "All you have to do is find a clan of Water dwellers willing to protect us. See if they'll be willing to live among us, as well. It will be a mutual benefit. They may dwell in our streams and waterfalls, and we will ensure that the valley remain plentiful for their plant consumption. All they have to do is keep the Hounds from hunting us down." She stopped at the base of the steep mountainside, then lifted Grazer as high as her vines would take him. "Go, child. Return victorious!"  
    "Oof!" Grazer tumbled a few times as she released him near the top of the mountain but once he gained his footing he began trudging upward with little difficulty. He used his own vines to latch onto rocks and shrubs for support, then to stabilize himself as he stood near the highest peak. His eyes widened as he stared out at the world that spread out beyond Bulb and Bud Valley; there was so much he had never seen before! When he looked back at the valley and compared it with the rest of what he saw, he realized just how small his world had been up to that point.  
    "Don't just stand there gazing, child. Go!"  
    Pine Blossom's voice and the anxious gaze of his herd set Grazer back on course. He used his vines to help himself repel down the mountainside, then started through a thick forest of trees he never knew existed.

    Grazer found himself startled by things that weren't even harmful. A patch of Skiplooms that flew by caught him off guard and he stumbled backwards into the leg of a Meganium that was wandering by. After excusing himself, he continued on his way but was once again surprised by a Spinarak dangling from a tree branch.  
    "Aah!" Poor Grazer ran and stumbled around the forest for a long time, then hid himself in a large opening underneath the roots of a tree--or at least he thought it was a tree. The Sudowoodo he hid underneath, suddenly uprooted itself and began looking for a new place to stand.  
    "There are so many creatures out here," Grazer muttered to himself. "So much I've never seen!" He looked at his surroundings. "Hey, did I stray off course? Oh no, I think I'm lost!"  
    "Hoot-hoot."  
    "Huh?" Grazer looked up through the branches of an oak tree and saw a Hoothoot sleeping somewhat noisily.  
    "Hoot-hoot."  
    "Hello," he called up to the bird, then frowned when he received no response. "Hello!" He waited for a while, but still no response. Finally, Grazer flipped up his vines and tickled the Hoothoot on its beak. "Hello! I said hello! Hello! HELLO!!!"  
    "Ah!" The Hoothoot wobbled on his perch and leaped from one foot to the next as he thrashed his wings. When he finally regained his balance, he looked down at Grazer and blinked his wide eyes at him. "Hey! I was sleeping up here!"  
    Grazer looked very puzzled. "In the late afternoon? You're supposed to be awake!"  
    "Hoothoots prefer night, you idiot! Now go away!"  
    "Hold on!" The Ivysaur hopped up and down to try and keep the Hoothoot's attention. "I just need to know if there's a swamp nearby, and if so, in what direction should I travel?"  
    The Hoothoot's pupils whirled in rapid circles. "A swamp? You've got a ways to go for that, Grassback. But you're headed in the right direction." He thrashed his right wing oddly to point. "Just keep going that way and you'll make it. That is, if you don't treat the Victreebel like you do me."  
    "Victreebel?" Grazer thought of the stories the elders told about the Pokemon that lived beyond their valley. Victreebel were one of the types, but the elders never talked about them being dangerous. "What's so bad about Victreebel," he asked.  
    "They're only pleasant when they're asleep," the Hoothoot said while he fluffed out his feathers. "Now if you don't mind, I need sleep. GO AWAY."  
    Grazer never thought some Pokemon would have such attitudes. He took one last look at the Hoothoot, then continued on his way. The forest became darker and darker as he walked along but he refused to let his nervousness slow him down. Each call of a hidden creature made him jump or quicken his pace.

    With the darkness of the forest looming overhead it was hard to tell when day turned to night. But, when Grazer felt himself becoming too tired to keep going he decided to settle down for a rest. He found a large, cozy leaf to settle under and it didn't take him long to drift off. Moments later he stirred from his sleep when he felt a cool breeze blowing over his back. Somehow the leaf had moved from over him; the yellow plant it was attached to had moved as well. When Grazer looked around, he noticed that he was actually surrounded by plants similar to the one he rested by.  
    "Bel."  
    "Huh?" Grazer spun to face one of the plants that were behind him. "Did you... say something?"  
    "Bel."  
    He turned towards another plant, slightly more nervous than before. "H-hello?"  
    "Bel...."  
    This time he didn't turn around. Grazer darted for a sliver of space between two plants but they quickly blocked his path. The stem that dangled from each plant suddenly wagged like a leopard's tail as a pair of eyes opened beneath the pink rim of their openings. Grazer shook in fear as drool began dripping from the opening of each plant. These _had_ to have been the Victreebels he was warned about! Every time he tried to dart out the circle of hungry plants, poor Grazer's path was blocked off. In unison, the Victreebels released a thick cloud of pollen in his direction that suddenly made him very sleepy. Grazer struggled to stay awake and keep running but he found the most he could do was crawl.  
    "Cuuuuuuuawhooawhoowhoobone!"  
    Before he went back to sleep, Grazer saw a brown and black blur bash through the Victreebel horde and drive them off with a wave of something grey. He felt himself being lifted and carried by that same blur, but fell unconscious long before he could find out where he was being taken.

    The first thing Grazer saw when he woke the next morning was a room full of Phanpies and Donphans. He had been placed on a soft pallet of hay in what looked like a stone barn. After stretching and shaking excess dew from his leaves, the Ivysaur waded through the crowd of sleeping Phans and stepped out of a large opening into the bright sun. As soon as his eyes adjusted he saw that he was in one small corner of a large, stone colony where Cubones and Marowaks lived. They had their own civilization, encircled by high walls that protected them from the dangers of the forest that surrounded their home. The Phans that lived with them were well fed and taken care of in exchange for their help in maintaining the homestead. It was the kind of arrangement Grazer was seeking for his herd and he was glad to see that it worked somewhere.  
    "There's our guest," came a friendly call from a Marowak who had colorful stripes painted on her skull mask and bone club. She was followed by a procession of Cubones who were interested in seeing an Ivysaur. "We haven't seen much of your kind around here in ages. You all hide back in that valley of yours."  
    "You know what I am," Grazer asked as he watched the Cubones run around him and whisper amongst themselves.  
    "Of course I do," the Marowak stated. "You're an Ivysaur. Oh, but where are my manners? I'm Femur Bash, the Matriarch of this colony. Do you have a name?"  
    "Grazer." He added proudly, "Of the Bulb and Bud Herd!"  
    "Well then, welcome, Grazer, to the Tusk Club Colony." Femur Bash turned towards the open courtyard and motioned for everyone to follow. "That was a close call last night. Ankle Breaker tells me you were completely surrounded by Victreebels spraying Sleep Powder when he found you." The Cubone in question jumped and waved its bone club victoriously. "They definitely would have eaten you if he hadn't rushed through."  
    Grazer hopped forward to walk side by side with the Matriarch. "How did this whole colony of yours get started," he asked. "I mean, you and those other creatures living together like this?"  
    Femur Bash smiled beneath the skull mask she wore. "Interesting story, really. In the early generations we used to wander in small groups or mostly alone, trying to fend for ourselves in this harsh world. Our numbers were few and hard to find back then. It's said that one day, while wandering the Dusty Cavern, a small group of Marowaks were saved from a pair of Aerodactyls by a herd of Donphans. That group happened to be our ancestors and after that chance meeting, the Maroes and Phans have been together ever since. Eventually we settled into this forest and started building walls around our chosen territory. And from there, we've been building shelters and structures to store things for the seasons."  
    "Wow...." Grazer stopped and stared at the various buildings and organized areas that the Marowak ancestors made to support themselves. All of it looked far better than grazing and hoping nothing tried to eat him. "So other Pokemon can live together! That's just what my herd wanted to know! Tell me, is there a swamp near here? I must go there to find some Water Dwellers who'll help us against--"  
    "Whoa, slow down Grazer." Femur Bash tried to calm him but he stepped away from her and shook his head rapidly.  
    "I can't calm down! Every full moon the Ash Paw Pack attacks our valley and takes some of our younger members to be eaten! The elders sent me out to find some Water Dwellers who would be willing to live amongst us as our defenders!"  
    The Matriarch's eyes narrowed. "The Ash Paw Pack, eh? Yes, that's a devious pack of mutts if ever I've seen one."  
    "You've heard of them," Grazer asked.  
    "Everyone in this area has," she replied. "They come from Angry Volcano every so often to wreak havoc. It's their way of proclaiming this territory as their hunting ground. We've kept them at bay pretty well, but I feel sorry for anyone outside our colony walls."  
    Grazer shook his head at her statement. "Don't feel sorry for my herd. Just help us! Tell me where I can find that swamp!"  
    "Okay, okay! It's actually right behind our territory." Femur Bash pointed towards the west gate with her bone club. "Just a few miles that way is the swamp. You should find plenty Water Dwellers there to talk to."  
    "Great!" Grazer didn't waste a moment after that. He scampered past the gates as quickly as the guards could push them open and ran the rest of the way to the swamp.

    The swamp was easy enough to find and Grazer knew he was there the moment he found himself trudging ankle-deep in cool water. Eventually the water started coming beyond his chin and he had to tread it in order to keep going. While he swam slowly through the murky liquid he did see several Water Dwellers wandering the swamp in a carefree fashion. He called to them repeatedly, but none seemed to be paying him any attention.  
    "Hellooooo! Hello? Wait! Stop, I--I could use some--Help! Anyone? Someone! Helloooo!" It was all very frustrating to the struggling Ivysaur. Eventually he pulled himself onto a fallen tree to rest and watch as clouds moved in overhead.  
    Beneath the rumble of the clouds, Grazer picked up on the nearby sound of chanting. He turned to see where it was coming from and saw a Golduck in a flat patch of mud, shaking a stick and doing a strange dance. The stick was decorated with feathers attached to it by thin strands of silk and some gems that had been pressed into its handle. The Golduck himself was also decorated, with leaves and vines that formed a belt around his waist and red stripes of paint on his face and limbs. He continued his strange ritual for several moments and even after the clouds let down a heavy shower on the entire area. This was an amazing feat and Grazer had to know if he really did cause it to happen.  
    Swinging from his own vines brought Grazer close enough to call to the Golduck without shouting. "Excuse me! Did you just make those clouds come overhead?"  
    "I did," the Golduck stated with a wise nod.  
    "Wow...." Grazer shook his head in awe. "How did you do that?"  
    "The great goddess Lugia gave me the power to do so," the Golduck replied. "I can do that and much more. I am Stream Parter, of the Mud Web Gaggle. And you are?"  
    "Grazer, of the Bulb and Bud Herd!"  
    Stream Parter nodded solemnly at his words. "Ah yes, the Bulb and Bud Herd. Still residing in the Bulb and Bud Valley, I take it?" He sat down in the mud and held his stick over his parted knees. "So, what is one of your herd doing so far from home?"  
    "I have come to seek out a group of Water Dwellers willing to live amongst our herd and protect us from the Ash Paw Pack," Grazer stated with confidence; he was certain this Water Dweller would be the one to help.  
    The Golduck simply scritched his own chin. "Ah yes, the Ash Paw Pack. A formidable pack if ever there was one. What you need cannot be found in the water, however."  
    Grazer's heart sank when he heard those words. "What? But, the Ash Paws are Fire Dwellers! Water would really put them on the run!"  
    "You have not enough water in your valley to support a colony of Water Dwellers and your herd, little one." Stream Parter held up one claw. "But, you do have someone already in your area who may help you. Have you ever noticed which direction the Ash Paw Pack always attacks your valley from?"  
    Grazer shook his head in reply. "It's always dark, and they spread out so fast. We can never tell."  
    "The Ash Paws come at your valley from the north, the east, and the southeast. Never from the southwest. Go to the southwest mountainside of your valley; there you will find the help you need."  
    "Really?" His journey seemed for nothing, but Grazer still wasn't certain that the Golduck was being truthful with him. "Say, how do you know all this?"  
    Stream Parter smiled as he stated, "One of my years has wisdom of this sort." Then he motioned to his right as an Alakazam appeared standing next to him. "And it does not hurt to have help from a friend." The Alakazam smiled and bowed its head. "Now if you would like a quick way home, we can offer that to you as well," the Golduck added.

    Grazer was grateful for all the help offered by the Golduck and Alakazam, though he wasn't prepared for being suddenly teleported back to the Bulb and Bud Valley. Members of his herd also weren't prepared for seeing him suddenly appear near the base of the waterfall. They gasped and backed away as if presented with an illusion, then the elders stepped forward and peered at the Ivysaur warily. "Grazer, is that you," Pine Blossom was the first to ask.  
    "No time to talk," he said as he rapidly regained his composure and rushed for the south edge of the valley. Out of curiosity, much of the Bulb and Bud Herd followed. Grazer made it to the foothills on the southwest edge of the valley and struggled his way up the jagged pathways that were carved into the rock. Halfway up he stopped and looked back at his herd, the look up and called to the mountainside, "Hello!" His voice echoed, but gained no answer. "Please, if someone is there, answer me!"  
    "What are you doing, child," Pine Blossom called to him. "And why have you returned without Water Dwellers?"  
    Grazer ignored her questions and continued to call out. "Hello! Someone, I know you're there! Stream Parter told me you were, so please! Answer me!"  
    The southern half of the valley shook and rocks tumbled from the mountainside. Suddenly, several rows of boulders lifted from the rock face and postured themselves like snakes. They were Onixes--four of them, each looking deadly and angry at being disturbed. The largest of the four loomed over Grazer and stared him down before speaking in a rumbling voice. "Why do you disturb the slumber of the Granite Elders?"  
    Grazer swallowed the fear in his throat before speaking. "The Bulb... and Bud Herd, are... in need of your h-help." He sat down to stop his knees from shaking. "Every full moon, the Ash Paw Pack comes to our valley and kills off our young. Surely you heard what happened just a few nights ago?"  
    "Yes, we heard," the Onix replied, "but it does not concern we of the Granite. The Ash Paw do not enter our territory to assault you. Why should we disturb ourselves for your cause?"  
    Grazer thought long and hard for a good reply. He knew if he didn't say something the Onixes couldn't combat, they wouldn't help at all. His gaze went back to his herd for inspiration, then suddenly a thought came to him. He stood up--this time without shaking knees--and put on his bravest face as he spoke. "Granite Elders, are not the mountains your territory? Is not the rock your home? Will you limit yourself to this small space where you lay cramped against each other? The entire mountain range that surrounds or valley is your home; you may spread out as you like. But know this: the Ash Paw Pack uses the north, east and southeast portions of the mountain range to enter our valley! They insult you by running right past you without paying tribute to your greatness! You cannot allow them to harm us, because you cannot allow them to enter your territory without tribute. And there is nothing they can offer you that you don't already have in each other. So I am not asking you to defend Bulb and Bud Valley. I am asking you to no longer shirk your responsibility and defend the Granite Range!"  
    The Granite Elders looked amongst each other as they listened to the Ivysaur speak. What he said was true; all of the mountain range was their home and they should have been defending it. One of the Onixes let off a loud call and it was echoed by others spread out across the mountain range. After a grunt of confirmation, the largest Onix once again loomed over Grazer and spoke. "You are very wise, young member of the Bulb and Bud. Very well. From this moment on, we of the Granite vow to defend this territory from the Ash Paw."  
    A cheer arose from the Bulb and Bud Herd once they heard the news. From that moment on they knew they had nothing to fear from the Ash Paw Pack. Grazer's efforts were celebrated and he was treated like a hero for a while, though as the praises died down he began to long for the outside world he'd seen during his travels. One day he went missing from the herd but no one feared for his safety; they all knew that he went on to follow his dreams. On the next night when the Hounds came to hunt in Bulb and Bud Valley, they were greeted by an unfriendly procession of Onixes who quickly ushered them back to the drylands they came from. It was a happy arrangement for everyone except for the Ash Paws who had to find a new food supply.


End file.
